23 May 2007

By: Softpedia Team, -

Samsung YP-T9 Mp3 Player Review
Our second Samsung mp3 player
The Samsung YP-T9 was announced on November 30, 2006, together with the YP-K5 that was reviewed last week. From design to specifications, the YP-T9 is clearly different from the YP-K5. Probably the most notable differences are the lack of a built-in speaker, the TFT LCD solution instead of the OLED found in the K5 and the presence of Bluetooth. Our copy had 4GB of internal memory, so we will be referring to this one; however, there are no differences between the 2GB version and the 4GB one. So let's see what are the player's strongest and weakest points and how it compares to other similar units and what our Roxana Deduleasa has to say about it. Chapter 1 The basicsBy Alexandru Vochin Overall design features The first striking design feature of the Samsung YP-T9 is its size. The player is quite small and slim, even smaller than the iPods own slimmest, the Nano model. However, despite its minute size, the device sports a very large display, capable of delivering high-quality, crisp images. Thus, the display will allow users to see very clearly what theyre doing, whether were talking about browsing the playlists, viewing photos or even playing some of the built-in Flash games (albeit that wont be one of the main reasons for purchasing Samsungs player, since said games are pretty boring). Nevertheless, in order to use such a big display and also keep the players overall size at a minimum, the designers had to make some sacrifices, the most important being in the button placement area, but well talk about that a little bit later. Getting back to the design, one things for sure: the people from Samsung used the same designers as in the case of their mobile phones, or at least tried to impose a unitary design policy. Thus, the players overall design has some pretty visible common points with some of Samsungs cell phones, and one of the most interesting aspects is the choice of materials. Theres a lot of brushed metal in there, but also a bit of plastic, since the central control button is manufactured entirely out of it. This choice is rather arguable, since it represents a rather uncanny presence in the T9s overall sleek and metallic look, and the feeling that this button simply doesnt belong there is enhanced by the fact that the quality of the plastic is not exactly top notch. However, theres a pretty good reason why this navigation button is made from plastic, and youll see that reason as follows.The YP-T9 has a sturdy brushed aluminum finishing, which makes it extremely sleek, smooth and rather sexy looking, but also brings about a huge problem: that of fingerprints. As most devices that are meant to be shiny and good-looking, Samsungs player is also quite a magnet for fingerprints, and even more so for those people with some serious sweat problems. This actually explains the choice of plastic for the central control key, since this is probably T9s most "popular" button, and the rough plastic wont be affected by the users sweaty fingers. The choice of colors is also an interesting one. Theres the already "classical" shiny black color, common to a wide range of handheld devices, but Samsung has also released a purple version (limited to the 2 GB versions). And since the best thing to go with black is a little bit of shiny chrome, the lateral sides of the YP-T9 are made from this material, the color contrast adding its important contribution to the players overall attractive look. Button and slot placement As mentioned earlier, Samsungs YP-T9 control system is based on the central selection button. This particular button is placed directly underneath the display, and is meant to help users carry out most navigation tasks. For this purpose, it features the usual navigation arrows, and its size alone is a guarantee that even the people with bulkier fingers wont have much of a problem operating the device. Moreover, it has some indentations along the rim, which are especially important if the device is used in the dark, granting it a feeling of safety and physical feedback (something quite a lot of users are looking for in a portable device). However, the

The Samsung YP-T9 mp3 player Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com
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same cant be said about the side buttons. The player sports a couple of buttons on the right-hand side (record, back, menu and play/pause buttons), which are very useful from the functionality point of view, but have a very unfortunate placement and size. Theyre very tiny, so some of the users might encounter some pretty serious problems in remembering which button to press and when, and they are also rather high compared to the players overall size, which means that they tend to get pressed accidentally. This can prove to be extremely annoying, especially if the button pressed by accident is "Play", which also happens to double as the YP-T9s power switch. However, this problem can be overcome with the help of another button, placed on the left side (the hold button), whose purpose is to act as some sort of locking mechanism for the other ones. Overall, the control system is pretty intuitive, but it takes some time getting used to (longer than in the case of other players, that is). As in the case of the K5, the people from Samsung have decided for some strange reason to go with a proprietary charging/data transfer connector, placed on the bottom side of the device. Its quite an unusual choice, especially since most current players on the market use a mini-USB, but this is probably a part of the Korean companys strategy to attract and hold onto customers. The top side of the T9 includes the earbud connector, a small lanyard loop, and the devices built-in microphone. The fact that the earbud connector has been placed right near the microphone seems to be quite a strange choice at first, but since these 2 are very seldom (if ever) used together, thats not such a problem, after all. The earbuds Samsungs YP-T9 comes with a standard set of earbuds, whose single point of attraction (from the design point of view, of course) is the fact that they blend in perfectly with the whole device, although they have somewhat of a large diameter, which might prove troublesome for some users. A few parting words.The Samsung YP-T9 has an overall attractive design, being quite slim, sleek and portable. As always, there's the problem of fingerprints, but it has been partially solved by the large plastic control button. The display is large enough to satisfy most customer demands, and delivers crisp and clear images. The most important minus, or con, of this device is represented by the side control buttons, too slim and too high for their own good. Overall, it's a nice-looking player with a good design, although not exactly a very user-friendly one. Chapter 2 The technical stuff By Ionut CiocarlieSpecifications and TestsFor reference testing, we used the 4GB version of the T9 player. There are no differences between the 2GB and the 4GB model in terms of features, functionality or standby, so the subjective audio measurements can also be applied to the 2GB model.According to the manufacturer's website, the specifications of the YP-K5 are the following:Internal Memory: 4GB (flash based, about 3.7GBs are available to the user)Playing Time: Up to 30 hours using the headphones; 6 hours using the speakers (volume at 75%, screen off)Interface: USB 1.1/2.0 Package: Player, USB Cable, Stereo Headsets, Software CDDimensions: 1.68"(W) x 3.27"(H) x.44"(D)Package Dimensions: 16.34"(W) x 12.4"(H) x 7.68"(D)Testing MethodAt first, I wanted to use some "proper" testing methods on the YP-T9, so I downloaded a copy of RightMark 6.02., created a test file and uploaded it on the T9. Using a jack/jack cable, I connected the line-out of the player to the line-in of an X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card. Unfortunately, after recording the test signal, RMAA crashed each time I tried to obtain some results. So no SNR/THD and intermodulation numbers for now.In order to produce an opinion regarding the output quality of the T9 player I uploaded some 80 tracks encoded via a Lame mp3 encoder at 192Kbits, 44.1KHz, Joint Stereo. The tracks were used to measure the dynamic range and the overall quality of both the output and the pair of headsets that came with the player.As for reference headphones, I used my good old Sennheiser HD205. While the 205 are not that great when it comes to the "warmth" of the sound, nor do they possess a perfectly linear frequency response they will still make a good reference point due to the fact that they produce little distortion even at high volumes. Moreover, their nominal impedance (32 Ohms) coupled with a very high SPL index makes them great for use in conjunction with portable sound sources since they don't need headphone amplifiers in order to work. 20mW per channel are enough to power these babies and since this

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review is all about portables, we'll be dealing with low-power outputs.Reference MusicBrian Adams - Best Of (a good mix of rock with percussive drums and lots of acoustic guitars) Roxette Best Of (about the same as the above description but with more vocals)Kitaro Best (ambiental tunes with various computer and synthesizer generated sounds)Nightwish Once (great Gothic-rock tunes, a nice blend between guitar solos and drums)Bjork Vespertine (it's Bjork home made music, therefore it needs no explanations)Vangelis Voices (ambiental sounds created that give a perfect acoustic image to an ever-growing world, very relaxing even at high levels of playback, impressive choir voices)Dune & The London Session Orchestra Forever & Ever (Tina Laceball performs superbly combining the vocals with an even more impressive orchestra; most tunes are classical re-makes of older Abba, Queen and Depeche Mode tunes)David Chesky The Raven (SACD Source, Rebecca Pidgeon great vocals coupled with a well balanced dynamic range; very deep lows and great mids especially in the 500Hz-2KHz range)Junkie Xl/Lunatic Calm The Castbreeder (-Prodigy fake album - jungle, rock and rave mixed and blended in a 100% adrenaline rush)All these tunes were listened on 4 separate sources using the same pair of Sennheisers. Besides the YP-T9 mp3 player we also used the previously mentioned X-Fi Fatal1ty running in headphone mode (audio creation mode, bit-matched playback, eq:off), an Ipod Nano (2nd generation, 2GB) and another Samsung mp3 player (the YP-K5 previously reviewed by Softpedia)I usually listen to these particular tunes a lot, in some cases even in their uncompressed form (CD, SACD) so I know how they should sound even on high performance CD players with >95db SNR DACs. That being said, the T9 was by no means a poor performer, delivering a clear sound when playing high-bitrate mp3s.Brian Addam's rock solos sounded good (but not great). If you play with the equalizer a lot, you will probably end up setting your own user-EQ in order to hear all that rock undistorted. However, the T9 has a very bright sound (I guess it has a lot to do with the internal settings of the DAC and the DAC itself), way brighter than the sound of the K6 for example. Unfortunately, that translates into a bit of distortion when playing rock tunes at full blast. Kitaro and Vangelis sounded almost perfect until I cranked up the volume to 100%. I have to point out that the T9 is really loud at its highest volume, so I don't recommend using it for more than 2 hours at its maximum setting. The DNSe (which is some kind of surround post-processing algorithm) only makes matters worse as the distortion largely accentuates when you toy with it. The 3D-user EQ mode is therefore useless. And if I may, so is the "Street Mode" which gives a boost of about +6db to the mids and highs in order to obtain a higher power output.Unfortunately, the sound feels totally unnatural; so, unless you really need the volume boost, I suggest you leave the street mode alone. As for the Equalizer, it can help in some cases but you have to be careful with the highs and mids since they tend to overcome the lows. Which, by the way, sound very good even at full blast. No critics here.The Castbreeder sounded good (again) but not great. The sound was punchy with some impressive lows but the highs were somewhat distorted and I quickly felt the need to turn the volume down a bit. Bjork was an interesting experience due to the fact that "Vespertine" is loaded with ambient sounds spread throughout the entire frequency specter. The vocals were also good but a bit too unnatural (yep, its the highs again).Overall, I'd give the T9 a B+. And let me explain why. The sound is good (if not great in some cases) surpassing the Ipod Nano in terms of power and warmth. Quality-wise, the output is good but you have to be careful how you use the EQ as it can make a lot of difference. On the other hand, the T9 is great if you can't live without your classical tunes. The vocals are great and the dynamic range is also impressive in terms of clarity and brightness. On the other hand, if you like the "boom-box" feeling, you're better off with an Iriver or a Creative as they both produce a more quantitative bass response.Day to Day use and other featuresAside from the music playback, the T9 also has some multimedia abilities. The photo viewer makes good use of the 176x208 internal screen as the images look good and don't fade out even under direct sunlight. On the other hand, the video player is more of a plus than a feature since the Xvid encoder bundled with Samsung's software is sluggish and in some

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cases produces choppy videos.The encoding part is painfully slow and the results are good but not great. The player can only decode videos that use 176x208 resolution and are encoded at 15fps. Evidently, due to the fact that the videos use the native resolution, they look rather well on the display. On the downside, there are moments when the image is pixellized and looks awful because of that.I didn't have enough time to toy with the Xvid encoder so I can't tell you if there is a bitrate limiter for the device. However, the Xvid version used by Samsung is rather old so don't expect any miracles regarding the quality. Moreover, the player only works with videos encoded with this specific version so if you use a newer version of the codec you won't be able to play it on the Yp-T9.The headsets that come shipped with the phone are rather good. That doesn't mean that they are comparable with in-ear Sennheisers (such as CX-300) but they still deliver a good sound both on the highs as well as on the lows. Compared for instance with the Ipod's headsets, the ones that come with the T9 are far better delivering more lows while at the same time taking good care of the mids.The FM radio works very well in terms of quality although it has some problems with the stereo signal on weaker radio stations. RDS mode works really well and comes in handy when you don't know what station you're listening to. However, the automatic is not that good so I'd recommend using the manual search in order to find all available stations.Regarding the usability of the device a lot of things can be said, but one keeps popping into my mind. I simply hate the way I have to scroll down the song list. I'm not a big fan of the click wheel or the touch-sensitive navi-keys but both these systems would have been better than the classical right/left + up/down system. Scrolling down a list of 500 songs is definitely not pleasant and the next track/previous track is also slow.The integrated Bluetooth transceiver works on A2DP mode only, so you will just be able to broadcast the sound output toward a pair of compatible headsets. The result is rather good in terms of quality, but the player will eat-up some serious battery time if you use it in Bluetooth mode.Just as any other Samsung player, this one too will appear as an MTP device rather than the classical USB mass storage device. Because of that, you can only add multimedia files to it (directly from Windows Explorer). On the other hand, you can synchronize the audio files directly from the Media Player and judging by how good Samsung's software is I suggest you do that. The movies can be directly converted with the same Xvid codec and then added into the right folder on the mp3 player.Actually, I'm not telling you not to use Samsung's software. But you have to know that it is indeed a nasty piece of program which from time to time freezes or doesn't properly recognize the list of songs from the player. After dealing with it for 2 days or so I decided to uninstall it and synchronize the tunes directly via the Explorer.In a head to head comparison with an Ipod, the YP-K9 would win. Not by a large margin since it has some flaws of its own. However it is a lot louder and although the sound is somewhat more distorted, it feels brighter and warmer than the Ipod's neutral dynamic range. The navi keys are very uncomfortable but I guess that if you really like the T9, you will get used to them. Evidently I would have loved an external speaker and a click wheel but for the time being, YP-T9's set of features are sufficient for just about any music lover. As for the Bluetooth and Video Player, I think that these features are useless.And let me explain why. I'm not much of a fan of viewing movies on a small screen, but from time to time I enjoy a small video on a hard drive-based Ipod. The problem with the T9 is that its screen is too small to make it fit for viewing videos. Maybe if it were twice as big and could run videos at 30fps I would have liked it more. But for now I'll stick with the Ipod Video. As for Bluetooth, it's a good thing; but the fact that it eats battery like a maniac makes it unsuitable for a portable device. It is indeed a good "extra" but it's by no means, a "must-have".A 4GB Yp-T9 is about $200. I'd say that's good value for the money but if you want a good 4GB mp3 player you might want to take a look at some Irivers. Especially since they cost about the same but the video part is way better. On the other hand, if you're looking for small but stylized, you can't go wrong with the YP-T9. Chapter 3 What does she say?By Roxana DeduleasaWhy should men have all the fun with the new Samsung toy? The Yp T9 mp3 player is the living proof that size does matter.

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When it comes to my high tech accessories, I like them small. The MP3 player looks sexier that ever before. I can wear it with any type of outfit. Ladies, you should know that apart from incredible sound capabilities the player comes in 1, 2 or 4 GB versions, and boasts a large 1.8 inch screen, so you'll definitely have enough space to see your favorite music videos. When you see this first, you notice that it resembles a cell phone. It must be a new trend to make them look like communication devices.As for the control pad, what can I say, women love the large, centered select button, which is nicely indented, but I am not so crazy about the buttons located along the device's right spine. They seem a bit misleading, and so does the menu key. I was nicely surprised by the beautiful screen and colorful animated interface.quite an aesthetic pleasure!The only thing I liked about the volume is the Street Mode function, which "allows you to enjoy the music outdoors more clearly," according to Samsung. Regarding the sound capabilities, the player surprised me when it flawlessly performed some of my Coldplay soundtracks, though it couldn't live up to my expectations when I fed him some Korn -"Falling away".The Samsung audio digital player is the kind of toy that can successfully replace a chocolate box or a perfume, and believe me it gave me more endorphins than you might think!For the ones that prefer energetic color casings to conservative black ones, the player offers one more version: purple, as an urban never-out-of-fashion color.Still, I cannot understand why men think pink or purple are women's favorite colors, because I believe the player couldn't have looked better than in the black glossy casing.Moreover, teenagers and young men have proved to be real fans of the Samsung gizmo, even though the company considered the female target when planning the advertising campaign. Compared to other Samsung players, the T9 features a more curvaceous and sleek design, which can match perfectly the palm of my hand, a true "handful of music''.Designed to fulfill women's needs for technology combined with appealing design, the player features a hot part: cool interface which allows you to slide show memories, watch favorite video clips, play games while waiting in the beauty parlor and store funny memos from any of your friends straight on the trendy mp3 player.The cold part is that this Samsung pretty fellow has a slow processor and the side buttons take some time and broken nails to get used to. My conclusion: despite a few minor issues, the stylish Samsung YP-T9 is a heartbreaker: it is easy to use, portable, draws all the attention if worn as a necklace and sounds fantastic!I tested the gadget for a couple of days, and I have to admit I've had enough time to realize I should reconsider my birthday wish!Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com

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17 May 2007

By: Softpedia Team, -
Samsung YP-K5 Mp3 Player Review
The Korean company's slide and tilt mp3 player with built-in speaker
The market of portable digital audio players is one of the most competitive ones in the consumer electronics' field, quite a large number of companies fighting for that second place (the first being held firmly by the iPod). Samsung is one of the most important such companies, and on the 1st of September 2006, they've launched what they wanted to be a groundbreaking device, something the world had never seen before. Whether the YP-K5 model (because that's what we're talking about here) really managed to achieve this goal is a whole different matter, and you'll be able to judge for yourselves from the following review if Samsung's sleek, black player with a built-in speaker and a touch-panel for a control system deserves the title of "iPod challenger" or not.Chapter 1 - The BasicsBy Alexandru VochinOverall design features One of the most important selling points of the Samsung YP-K5 is its design. The device looks classy, exclusive, a music player for those hip and trendy users who like to show-off their toys wherever and whenever they can. It's something you don't see every day, a niche device that will either capture the user's attention at first sight or not at all. When switched off, the Samsung YP-K5 looks just like a big, black monolith. Compared to other portable players, this model is rather "fat", but, unlike other portable players, it inspires safety and sturdiness. However, it's got a very good reason for its bulkier size, since half of the YP-K5 is actually a sliding and tilting built-in speaker that pops out from right under the player and allows users to enjoy their music out loud, without having to wear those pesky and sometimes uncomfortable headphones. The stereo speaker, which is actually YP-K5's trademark, sports a special sliding mechanism that resembles the one used in some Samsung cell phones. This mechanism allows the speaker to slide smoothly and then tilt upwards, and one of the greatest things about it is that it's pretty solid, despite looking rather frail at the first sight. Another very interesting feature of the Samsung YP-K5 is the display and the touch-sensitive control system. Thus, both these elements are placed on the front side, under a translucent, yet very resistant plastic material. The overall effect is quite interesting, as the vivid colors of the OLED display are very well enhanced by the overall dark look of the YP-K5. Moreover, the entire display and control area is surrounded by a small metal margin, or "lip", which prevents the device from being scratched, a very important feature, considering the fact that the YP-K5 is meant to be attractive at all times. It's quite clear that the YP-K5 has been created for a special brand of people that want their devices to be as good looking as they are technologically advanced. Thus, all the materials used for Samsung's player are of great quality, the finishing touches too, while the colors have been very well chosen. After all, what better match is there for the device's overwhelming black color than the speaker's chrome finishing? However, the player does have some problems even in the design department. One of the most annoying is the fact that the glossy surface of the touch-sensitive area gets filled with fingerprints in no time, and stays so until the user decides to wipe it clean, which is never an easy operation. Moreover, the touch sensitive controls, despite having an undisputedly high cool factor, might not prove to be as popular as predicted, since there are quite a lot of people who generally expect to receive some sort of sensitive feedback from their devices. Another problem is that related to the sliding mechanism. Although very interesting, it lacks one major feature: a locking button. Thus, if the user presses a little harder on the cross-section of the Samsung YP-K5, the speaker tends to quickly pop out, even when not required to. Control buttons and slot placementThe Samsung YP-K5 has relatively few control buttons. The power switch is placed on the top side, and users must hold it to the right for a few seconds in order to activate the player or switch it off. All the

The Samsung YP-K5 Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com
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other controls are touch-sensitive and are placed on the lower side of the device, under the display itself. The control system is as easy and simple as it gets. Thus, the control system is based on 4 arrow-buttons used for navigating the menu or skipping tracks, fast-forwarding etc., which are placed around the central "OK" button. There is also a "Menu" button in the bottom right side, as well as two "Back" buttons placed on the right and left side of the "Up" arrow. The reason for the extra "Back" button is that whenever the user decides to listen to music on the speaker, the whole display and control system changes orientation from "portrait" to "landscape". The bottom side of the Samsung YP-K5 houses the only two connectors we'll find on this device, namely the headphones jack and the connector for the proprietary USB cable. It's still not quite clear why Samsung has decided to go for a proprietary connector and gave up on mini-USB, but they're not the only ones that did so (iRiver and Apple also use proprietary connectors). As you might expect, said cable is used both for transferring music and other types of content to the device, as well as charge it (we'll discuss the charging times and battery life a bit later in this review). Earbuds The first thing that comes to mind when taking a first glance at the pair of earbuds delivered with the YP-K5 is that they look like some sort of alien artifacts. They're meant to fit within the user's ear canal, and thus provide an increased level of outside sound isolation and much better bass.Nevertheless, they're not exactly a fantastic choice. It takes a while to get used to them, and the nasty sensation of having a foreign object stuck down the ear canal never really goes away. And it's quite probable that most people will simply give up on them altogether and either use the speaker, or get a normal pair of earbuds. Chapter 2 - The Techical StuffBy Ionut CiocarlieSpecifications and TestsDue to the fact that we've received the 2GB version of Samsung's player we will be referring specifically to this one and not to the 4GB unit. A quick tour of Samsung's website will reveal that besides the obvious space difference, the two K5 versions look and perform exactly the same starting with the audio output and ending with battery life.According to the manufacturer's website, the specifications of the YP-K5 are the following:Internal Memory: 2GB (flash based, only about 1.8GBs are available to the user)Playing Time: Up to 30 hours using the headphones; 6 hours using the speakers (volume at 75%, screen off)Interface: USB 1.1/2.0Package: Player, USB cable, headsets with bass-boost in-ear system, Software CDDimensions: 3.86"(W) x 1.87"(H) x.71"(D)Package dimensions: 15.75"(W) x 12.99"(H) x 9.06"(D)Testing methodDue to the fact that RMAA 6.0.2 refused to work properly with our testing subsystem (X-Fi Fatal1ty card, A8N SLI Mobo, FX-53 CPU, 7800GTX video card) we had to revert to subjective listening tests. As always, subjective listening is based on the audiophile's opinion and, because of that, the results can vary.For comparison purposes, I chose about 80 tracks from various artists (and with various musical styles varying from jungle and rock to ambient and classical themes) and I listened to them in different test setups (equalizer settings, original headphones, reference headphones) in order to perceive the differences in the quality of sound. In order to establish a reference point, I used only mp3 tunes encoded at 192Kbits/s (44.1Khz, 16 bit, Joint Stereo) with the latest version of the known Lame encoder.The reference headphones I used were a pair of Sennheisers, namely the HD205. Although this particular type of headphones does not offer a perfectly neutral frequency response, the fact that they use a circumaural design coupled with an excellent ambient noise isolation produces some very good results. Moreover, these headsets use a typical 32Ohm impedance and a very high SPL. As a result, you can pair it even with sound sources weaker than 25mW/channel and they will still remain pretty loud.Music:Brian Adams - Best Of (a good mix of rock with percussive drums and lots of acoustic guitars) Roxette - Best Of (about the same as the above description, but with more vocals)Kitaro Best (ambiental tunes with various computer and synthesizer-generated sounds)Nightwish Once (great Gothic-rock tunes, a nice blend between guitar solos and drums)Bjork Vespertine (it's Bjork home-made music, therefore it needs no explanations)Vangelis Voices (ambiental sounds that give a perfect acoustic sensation of an ever-growing world, very relaxing even at high levels of playback, impressive choir voices)Dune & The London

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Session Orchestra - Forever & Ever (Tina Laceball performs superbly combining the vocals with an even more impressive orchestra; most tunes are classical re-makes of older Abba, Queen and Depeche Mode tunes)David Chesky - The Raven (SACD Source, Rebecca Pidgeon - great vocals coupled with a well balanced dynamic range; very deep lows and great mids especially in the 500Hz-2KHz range)Junkie XL/Lunatic Calm - The Castbreeder (- Prodigy fake album - jungle, rock and rave mixed and blended in a 100% adrenaline rush) All these tunes were listened on 4 separate sources using the same pair of Sennheisers. Besides the YP-K5 we also used a desktop X-Fi in headphone mode (audio creation mode, bit-matched playback, eq:off), and Ipod Nano (2nd generation, 2GB) and a Samsung YP-T9 (4GB version, includes Bluetooth transceiver)ResultsI have to say that when I first loaded the YP-K5 with the selected songs I didn't think it would sound that good. Now don't get me wrong, it's far from being perfect, especially since the mids and highs are not as clear as the lows. On the good side, the K5 produces no distortions even at 85%-90% of the total power it still sounds perfectly clear.You can hear all the guitars in the background of a tune such as "Run to You" (B. Addams) and you can also feel the long bass provided by the orchestra in Rebecca Pridgeon's "Spanish Harlem". At full blast the instruments have a tendency of mixing into one another but that's only an effect of the distortion which becomes audible when you use the YP-K5 at full volume. And the Equalizer will only make matters worse; so my advice is to use the K5 without any EQ or 3D surround settings.Vangelis and Kitaro didn't impress me much since, due to K5's natural tendency of eliminating some of the highs, the sound lacked the brightness you can usually hear on professional sources. The high-pitch instruments were almost absent and when I was finally able to hear something, it sounded compressed and distorted. Overall, the experiment wasn't a total loss, but if you plan to listen to classical tunes on your K5 you have to get a pair of headphones that will amplify the highs more than other frequency bands. And the neutral HD205 was definitely not fitted for that.Moving along, I tried some tunes from Nightwish and their latest album and combined some of their tunes with two songs from "The Castbreeder". The result was good, if not great as the player managed to reproduce a natural sound with no distortions. Lows and mids were great while at the same time I felt the need for more highs (nonetheless, they were there).Overall, the K5 is an A- device in terms of quality. Sound is above average in terms of quality, lows are very strong and the overall volume can make your ears bleed if you listen to it at full blast for more than 1 hour. I would have liked more highs but the sound stage was pretty well balanced. Overall this is a must-have if you listen to rock/house/techno tunes a lot. As for classical music lovers, I guess the K5 ain't that great since it lacks some high-band clarity. Day to day use and other featuresI can't say much about the photo viewer, since the OLED screen is not that great at viewing this type of content. It will do the job, but you won't be pleased with it. On the other hand, the alarm clock is a good feature to have, especially since the onboard speakers are loud enough not to be missed.The headset that came with the player, on the other hand, is not that good. And I'm not talking about the weird-shaped extensions of these headsets (which - by the way - I personally hate, because they are pretty uncomfortable to wear) but about their quality. The headsets don't deliver proper lows (or highs) and because of that, I'd recommend you to buy a proper set of in-ear ones. Shure and Sennheiser have some great deals so it would come in handy if you checked them out.The touch-sensitive navi keys are a great feature since, once you get used to them, you won't feel the need for an Ipod-like Click-wheel. You can easily navigate through the menus and scrolling down an entire list of songs won't take more than a minute or so.The speaker set is probably the strongest point of this device. Once you slide the mp3 player, the display rotates 90 degrees clockwise (and so do the navi keys) and the external speaker system will be activated. The volume is great for such a tiny set of drives and there's even a slight touch of lows (although the case vibrates a lot because of that). Unfortunately, if you use the radio you will have to leave the headset plugged in as it works as an FM antenna.The radio works especially well as in most cases it delivers a quality comparable to that of the mp3 player. The tuner is pretty

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sensitive, but you will need a strong signal in order to obtain stereo tuning. The interface is simple (yet intuitive). However, it completely lacks RDS and Auto Frequency Hopping and in some cases, that can be a drawback.The software provided by Samsung was a bit of a disappointment making me realize how great the Itunes is. Synchronization is difficult and the software is full of bugs producing random errors from time to time. And to make matters worse, Samsung's YP-K5 is not recognized as a mass storage device but as an MTP device. You can directly add/remove songs from the player but you won't be able to copy unsupported files. And that's not good since even the quirky Ipod can do that.On the other hand, you can synchronize the K5 using Windows Media Player. And it will work great as long as you have enough time. Speaking of which, the YP-K5 is a little slow when it comes to copying files. I never saw it climbing over the 7MB/s mark, which makes it a lot slower than the Ipod Nano or the Iriver U10 series.The Bottom LineOverall, I'd say that Samsung's YP-K5 is an excellent mp3 player surpassing the Ipod Nano in terms of quality and power. While it's a lot more expensive, it provides an amazing experience and once you get past the bulkiness you will probably fall in love with it.On the other hand, at roughly the same price, you can buy an Ipod Video. This one is a lot less responsive, but comes with 30GB of storage space, a colder (but comparable) sound and full video support. It won't have the touch-sensitive keys but it will offer a better set of features and a comparable battery. Chapter 3 - What Does She Say?By Roxana DeduleasaSome women feel enormous pleasure when driving a Ferrari; others, after eating a bar of black chocolate. I prefer buying myself the latest gadget and "playing" with it. Nowadays, since diamonds are no longer a girl's best friend, a black sexy curvaceous device seems to be the perfect substitute.As a woman, I want all my high tech toys to be like my "little black dress": reliable, classy and most of all, with a distinct personality, just like I am. I tested the Samsunglicious YP K5 mp3 player for a couple of days and I have to admit it was love at first sight the moment I laid my eyes on it.In fact, the sleek player features such a classy design I can even imagine Audrey Hepburn herself wearing it in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I can hide the player even in a small cocktail purse, but I'd rather carry it somewhere it can be seen.Although the attractive toy measures only 3.85 x 1.87 x 0.74mm, Samsung was able to pack tons of irresistible features into one remarkable device. Far from being just a high tech fashion statement, it is the best gift for a sophisticated woman.The OLED touch screen display is la "pice de rsistance", as it's covered in blue Swarovski gems-like 128 x 160 pixels. With a single touch, you can browse the intuitive menu. The Flash storage device supports MP3 and WMA file formats. "Size doesn't matter" at all, when we talk about this fellow, you can choose the 2GB version or the 4GB one, based on how much music you have.The sound made me feel like my own living room was the most exclusive club. The 3D hi-fi sound seems to be specially created to drive women crazy. I have never felt Bono so close to all my sensesso real!The K5 dazzled me when it automatically switched the interface from vertical to horizontal view. You know what I am talking about if you've watched the latest Pussycat Dolls video. This Samsung MP3 player drives the women's senses like an SUV on an open road. You can place the player near you, and it will enhance a romantic mood while you enjoy a picnic meal with your mate.Moreover, I could enjoy my memories slideshow as I listen to my favorite music. It can store up to 25.000 JPEG photos, so I can carry 25.000 precious moments with me everywhere. With a single recharge of the LI-Poly batteries, the music session can last up to 30 hours with earphones and up to 6 hours with the speakers. But why use them at all, when I can finally share my favorite soundtracks with everybody.A timer function enables you to take the glamorous toy with you to bed. Anyway, if you ever get bored of mp3 music, you can switch the player on the radio and listen to the morning news while you're having cup of coffee.The built-in alarm system automatically switches on and the included snooze option guarantees you a couple of extra minutes of beauty sleep. I can browse my entire music library by connecting it to my PC and quickly download music files via USB 2.0.The Samsung's Digital Natural Sound engine technology is responsible for great volume, no sound distortion at all and more accurate quality sound even with two

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small speakers. In addition to this, I can customize the sound with one of the 5 equalizer modes, to suit my music taste. The music acoustic sounds as good as if I were listening the song to my home stereo.Ladies, the $400 price is not something to sweat about and after all, I am quite sure a lot of gentlemen are going to buy one of these as a gift Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com
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